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July 20, 2007

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Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman, a former Cheney aide, really handed Hillary an enormous gift with his letter warning that "premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda."

That may have worked in 2004. Now it's just a gift to Hillary. Her staff would not, of course, say whether they knew how the AP had "obtained" Edelman's letter. But it was an incredible gift to her, and her aides promptly hit it out of the park, right there in the first version of the story.

Her Senate spokesman, Philippe Reines, demanded that the administration provide a withdrawal plan rather than "a political plan to attack those who question them."

He also called the comments "outrageous and dangerous" and, to boot, warned against "redeploying out of Iraq with the same combination of arrogance and incompetence with which the Bush administration deployed our young men and women into Iraq."

Is there still any danger here for Clinton, any chance that voters — Democratic primary voters?! — consider criticism of the war effort and discussion of withdrawal disloyal? Edelman seems to have thought so -- that excerpt reads as a shot across the bows. But it's a bit too late in the day for that, isn't it? When you've everyone from Richard Lugar to a front-page blogger on Kos getting your back, it's a pretty good day.

Certainly, the Clinton campaign's reaction — and stay tuned for a planned response directly to Defense Secretary Robert Gates — suggests that this is just the sort of fight they'd like more of.

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Think about it this way (and don't completely dismiss it outright, far fetched as this may seem..) :The Republicans want Hillary to be the Dem's nominee. More so, they NEED her to be. They know she won't win a general election, for a myriad of reasons I won't get into at this ungodly hour. And just so you know where my particular biases/loyalties lay, I'm an Obama supporter. ...

Hillary, runs better then Obama against Rudy, she can win a General Election, I like Obama, but his big vulnerability won't be inexperience, but the War on Terror, I can see Obama as a diplomat and dealing with domestic policy but Commander and Chief of the military, eh not so much

Funny how 2 people can read the same story and form two differnt conclusions. If you like Hillary its a gift, if you do not like Hillary she is viewd as a traitor. I guess the writer of this article is a Hillary shrill.

It would be pretty damn clever for the Bush admin to keep building up an un-electable nominee like this. But is the Bush admin really that clever anymore? And are they so opposed to the Bush-Clinton dynasty relay race, really?

I KNEW you guys looked at all this as a game, something where 'fun' could be had. The fact is that Hillary's stream-o-propaganda DOES coincide with, and encourage the propaganda of our enemies. The only real distinction between the two sides is that Hillary masks hers under 'what's best for the country'. This administration has been long and slow to respond to attacks from the left regarding our efforts in Iraq, and the broader world conflict with a religious ideology which seeks our absolute destruction. What are they supposed to do, remain silent while amateurs like Hillary take endless potshots at the policies AND the individuals
who support an effort? Hillary clearly supports no effort, but the window dressings of the left, who are posers in this fight.

Her staff has done this "turn what is our (Hillary and Dems)negatives and lack of plan linguistically against the President" so many times now her flip-flopping is a new art form. You know, projecting, projecting I think it is called, or denial.

Once again, I ask: What specific "EXPERIENCE" does Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton possess (that isn't entirely derivative of her husbands political career) that would qualify her to be the nations chief executive officer and commander in chief of the US Armed Forces(?) that is different than Sen Obama?

a little insight on my "lessons learned" post. of course an obvious take would be war planning as the original piece states. but also too, attacking hillary directly-even personally advantages her. rick lazzio, 2000 NY senate campaign-his campaign of errors. the Right was just as sure then that she'd never get elected with NY's heavily republican/conservative northern regions as they and others appear to be now on her in '08. folks we've been there, done that and burned the t-shirt. the ney sayers are battling on her turf, in her comfort zone instead of the other way around. she's far more intelligent than many will concede.

Hillary is still polling at greater than 50% "strong negative" amoung likely voters. This means thatvoters "will not consider her in ANY circumstance". This number has not changed at all in over two years. Now I realize that once the two candidates for the general is finally decided, this could certainly change. But if I were a Democrat it would scare the crap outta me! See : http://www.hillaryproject.com/index.php?/sg_distro/comments/hillary_clinton12/

Sedona your question could be asked of abe lincoln, some say the least qualified of all, and maybe a dozen or so others. some as have served above and beyond and we've had some 'well qualified' that nearly crashed and burned-or did! history shows there's no real relevance to your question beyond the right to ask it.

As a person who voted for W twice, I am now so sick of the arrogance of those who question our patriotism for questioning a war that is not working. Our troops have done great but the neo-con theory of Democracy in the Middle East just did not work. This former Republican is proud of Hillary for staning up to Eric Edelman and I will be voting for Hillary or Obama in '08.

No gift. This is simply more re-inforcement of the arrogant nature of Hillary Clinton. I don't see where this elevates Hillary's position. Hillary's negatives are firm and all she can do is further galvanize support of her opposition. I hope and pray that she gets the dem nomiation so we can bury the 'Clinton mystique' for good.

if bush/cheney feels the Excutive has been so diminished since Nixon and feels the need to reassert its constitutional powers (their opinion) than why not a sitting member of the US Senate? her power play is what most find so un-nerving...acceptable among the white power male/good ol'boy establishment but how dare a women!and yes, they exist on both sides the asile. personally, i love it. knowing you all squirm so much. LOL

bluecollarbytes wrote:
"I KNEW you guys looked at all this as a game, something where 'fun' could be had."
Of course! What site did you think you were reading? This is the Politico.com, not CNN. This web site is ALL about the strategy, and tactics of politics. About HOW people get elected. About politics as a game, and playing to win. Go elsewhere for commentary and partisanship. I wish the comments people left followed the same philosophy.

db531: The "relevance" to my quesion is it questions Sen Clinton's entire rationale to run for president. So, humor me: What specific "EXPERIENCE" does Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton possess (to be the nations chief executive officer) that is different than Sen Obama? Afterall, Sen Clinton, along with members of her campaign and a large chunk of the so-called MSM are trying to convince Americans she has 'leadership experience' and she's "uniquely" qualified to be president .... how so?

humor U? perhaps another relevant point of UR question, why? you've appeared to have made up your mind at least that you'll not vote for her. i'm not paid by her campaign and haven't decided to become a volunteer-yet. my commentary is political observation only and not advocacy-yet.

PENTAGON THINK THEY CAN MANIPULATE HILLARY- HILLARY IS ALWAYS RIGHT IN THIS MATTER- THYRE WRONG SHES A STRONG WOMAN FOR PRES.08-GLAD THEY FIGNT BACK IT LCEAR THAT THE BUSH IS DESPERATE THEYRE ALREADY DEFEATED.THIS YEAR IS HILARYS YEAR(20070BOAR YEAR AND SHE WAS BORN AN ARCHER /GOOD AND A FIGHTER BOAR YEAR ALSO. NEXT EYAR IS HER YEAR AS WELL 2008-RAT YEAR IS A COMAPNION AND PRETECTION TO TEH BOAR YEAR BORN.GOOD FOR HER IS ABOUT TIME- UR CLAIRVOYANT AND PHYSCHIC LADY REAROSE

First of all, the religious fanatics that are the most dangerous and most intent on destroying our liberal democratic republic are the ignorant redneck bigotted religious wingnuts already in the US.
Second, edelman is a neojudeocon israeli 5th columnist and is a protege of cheney, wolfowitz, libby and perle. He has never served in the military as is the case with most of the administration. His appointment was a recess appointment. He sits in the chair formerly occupied by douglas feith. Hard to imagine that anyone could outstupid feith but edelman is off to a good start. Where do they come up with these freaks?

I am sure Undersecretary Edelman does not enjoy a spotlight shining on Bush administration incompetence. Public debate is not only a civic responsibility, it is evidence that our democracy is working. When you see the fur flying, smile - that's our democracy alive and well. Enemies of the United States have misconstrued our public discourse for over two hundred years.

You go girl! I fully support Hillary for the Democratic nomination. That silly 'ol cattle futures bribery thing didn't bother me at all. Her hypocrisy of calling the 80s the "decade of greed" while she was busy looting an S&L - now who really cares about that stuff anymore? Her obstruction of justice when she sequestered the subpoenaed Madison billing records for over two years - what's the big deal, right? Starr was an ass! Hell, this is a great candidate and from the polls and many of the comments here, obviously the best the Dems have to offer. Go Hillary Go!

Hillary Clinton is doing exactly what they said. Of course our allies in Iraq are making back room deals with the Jihadist to protect themselves because we are about to leave Iraq. You can't turn war on and off like a light switch. What people have to understand is if we leave Iraq there will be grave results of our action. These things don't happen in a vacuum. If we leave Iraq we will be turning Iraq over to radical Islam and the people who just want to leave Iraq now will have to live with their decision. If you think it's bad in Iraq now wait until we leave. America has around 5 to 7 years left I think because the world knows the way to beat us is hear at home not on the battlefield.

How is turning Iraq over to radical Islam good for America? We could have never won WW2 today because D-Day would have been plastered on every news channel and as soon as the left saw dead troops they would have been crying to bring our troops home. People die in wars and you can't use the excuse that it's too tough as a reason to quit. This is truly the microwave generation in America who feels war is something they can just quit without huge consequences. We are facing an enemy that kills it's own people in order to get to us. They fly planes into buildings and behead folks and you think quitting will make them stop? I just think this nation is in trouble because al it takes is a leader with the will to defeat us to truly destroy this country.

WW2 was a war forced upon us, and the US experienced shared sacrifice in a vital cause that was apparent to the whole country. We had very competent leadership in both the civilian and the military spheres. Don't compare WW2 with the fiasco in iraq. The war in iraq was a war of choice and was sold to the country on the basis of distorted and cherry pick information that turned out to be blatantly wrong. Since the time and place and strategy were at bush's discretion, we should have had the best war plan of all time. Instead, for reasons of ego and incompetence and greed and the nefarious plot of neocons, we had a disasterous war plan, which resulted in what you see today in iraq. What confidence do you have in bush? that he suddenly became unstupid? Iraq is a dumb war. It is not intelligent to continue to expend precious lives and resources on a lost cause that never should have been a cause in the first place. We have a crisis in America, and it is the madness of King George II. bushie likes to say that nobody could hae forseen what happened. BS!! many people forsaw it but they were trashed as being unpatriotic and cowardly by, you guessed it, draft dodging cowards.

I am not anti-semetic. I am anti the taliban-like fanatics that infest christianity, islam, and judaism. An example of anti-semetism is the religious nut who assassinated PM Rabin of Israel. The neocons are the kin of these religious nuts. I fully support and respect Senators Schumer, Sanders, Levin, Feingold and others. Judas lieberman is beneath contempt.

I didn't want to go into Iraq but we are there now. Leaving Iraq does nothing but satisfies some folks hatred for Bush. History will judge how we got into Iraq but if we leave Iraq now it makes zero sense. Why is it good for America to turn Iraq over to Radical Islam? These things do not occur in a vacuum. You can't just start a war and then cut it off like it's a bad TV show. Listen to the people who want to leave Iraq. They are so blinded by their hatred for Bush they don't even care what happens when we leave. They just want to satisfy their irrational emotion. This is why the democrats never talk about what happens once we leave, because they know they have no plan after that happens. This government is dragging it's feet in Iraq but are you saying a radical Islamic government would be better? I think radical Islamist are smart when it comes to the Art of War. Bin Laden said we are paper tigers and he will prove that when we quit in Iraq. Everyone will see the celebrations in the streets once we cut and run. I used to think that they would kill people who were friendly to America once we leave but now I think differently. The people who are helping us there now will hate us even more than the Jihadist when we abandon them. So I think they will actually join forces when we leave and then they will come after us in a very strong way. We will be a very weak country when we leave Iraq and they will not give us time to lick our wounds. I truly think America as we know it will never be the same once we lose to radical Islam. I know people are filled with emotion and I'm a believer in Providence. I don't see how we can escape our fate in the face of an enemy that wishes to control the souls of men.

Just where un the islamic world is there a liberal democratic republic? The muslims do not believe in separation of church and state as did our brilliant founding fathers. I am serious here. Building a wall between government and irrational superstition was one of the best ideas our founders had. Even in the US today, we have a delusional president who believes god speaks to him. Our options in iraq are limited. Probably the best option is to divide iraq into three parts. This type of plan seems to be working in the former yugoslavia. I am sympathetic to the kurds. We have to keep turkey out of there. The iranians are not likely to want al qaeda sunnis on their border. Do you know that when we went into afghanistan, the iranians supported us because of their hatred of the taliban. their reward was to be included in the axis of evil. Do I hate bush. I dislike him intensely because of what he has done to the country, in every aspect, not just iraq. I really do believe that lunadick cheney is pulling the strings. if you examine why we are in such a mess, it is all bush/cheney.

This story illustrates the brilliance of Senator Clinton.
She wrote a letter to exactly the right person, Sec of Def Bob Gates, asking for the Senate to be better informed.
A Cheney political hack who works under Gates thinks it's a good time to lay a personal attack on her patriotism, with a few Loyal Bushie talking points.
His private letter to her "somehow" gets out into the press.
She writes his boss, Sec of Def Bob Gates, again... this time to ask if he is on her side or on the political hack's side.
Latest chapter of this story:
Sec of Def Bob Gates is on Senator Clinton's side.
This woman is not to be taken lightly. I personally cannot wait to make the most historic vote in my lifetime, for the first female President in America.